By Roy Abraham
Creative Director, Thought Blurb
‘Sorry, young man, but I’m looking for a weird n’ whacky copywriter.’ - 1996.
When I faced this rejection at the hands of a creative supervisor at a reputed ad agency, it felt squarely like a punch to the nose. Words like psychographics, USP and insight simply started circling my head like little birds in flight. While my confidence in my learning took a standing count, I wondered what being a weirdo had to do with copywriting and if it did, then how was I to come across more whacked out than a cricket ball post Dhoni’s chopper shot.
The next hour was spent considering new haircut options for myself and wondering how else I could exchange my first bencher look for a glorious glaze of lunacy. Long did this bespectacled ‘Ace Ventura’ think, but for him, there was simply no ‘Mask’.
How I wished the faculty at Xavier Institute of Communication had touched upon some loca-loony mantras, while they taught me about advertising strategies and marketing principles. Instead, the old fools deluded me with sermons like:
1. While advertising is an art form, it is only justified if it begins a cult, warms the cockles, gets a laugh, elicits some signs of life
2. Copywriting is not about puns or rhymes but about a crafty application of human psychology on marketing data
3. Don’t fuss about the call to action, worry about making a call to the heart
4. Oh, to hell with four
As you can see, the silly goats missed out important details on how to establish myself in the world pecking order of the weird and whacky.
My resilience in my resolve to write copy egged me on to DIY weirdoism. Yet I never reached those sublime heights of VJ whackiness, so I could only hope to find work in some mundane, down-to-earth, common sense agencies. Rediffusion, Enterprise Nexus, Ogilvy, ideas@work, Strawberry Frog and Thought Blurb for example.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I managed to completely rid myself of my inadequacies. On the contrary, I discovered a few new ones along the way:
‘Says he can’t/won’t write a headline in two words! OMG! who the hell is this guy. I’m like…’ (followed by nothing, leaving the simile incomplete and hanging precariously on the edge of meaninglessness).
‘He thinks just because there are newspapers, books, email and Twitter, it means people want to read copy!’ (followed by loud laughter, table thumping, and rolling on the floor).
‘Says, he won’t allow creativity to do the dance of death-by-democracy.’ (accompanied by vigorous head shaking, deep sighing and eye-rolling). Not that I did it entirely my way or Frank Sinatra’s way, but I somehow managed, largely because of the love of advertising and the indulgence of a few good men. Art directors, creative directors, chairmen and mad men.
Good thing, I don’t have to go around asking for a copywriting job these days. Because some hair-gelled fuzz-face or the other is bound to have looked at me and asked, ‘Sorry, ol’ chap, but do you know how to write for an app?’
Feedback: roy@thoughtblurb.in
